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Oldest-Known Terrestrial Rocks Unearthed
wdavies writes "There are various news reports (see this Google search) Oldest Rocks University Quebec that are reporting the discovery of the oldest sedimentary rocks ever found. There are older rocks, but they are extra-terrestrial, and apparently these Earth-local rocks will give a lot more information about the early stages of life on our planet. IANAG so I can't judge any more, but seems significant"
Wow! That totally rocks!
Why exactly is this in developers?
Please don't tell me this is considered an early beta of rock or something.
In an effort to avoid duplications, now stories are being out into random categories.
Er, editors try "Science".
...it's Strom Thurmond's head.
Maybe they thought the submission was about Rox...?
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
Well, I am a geologist and I can say that it is definately significant. Most every resource mined on this planet comes to you through the work, if not always discovery, of geologists. Not to mention all of the work done by other branches of geology such as geochemists and paleontologists to explain the origin and deveopement of life on earth. Now, as for geological engineering, that may be another story. They are usually, in my experience (with no offense meant to any engineer), engineers who took some geology classes because they figures two or three would teach them all the geology they would need to know. Nothing could be further from the truth. Engineers, also in my experience, have a very difficult time understanding geology. Has something to do with not being trained to look at the big picture, as well as the smallest possible detail.
In other news:
God was seen earlier creating Earth, probably in COBOL.
in three years of engineering i completed 9 geology courses, several in igneous, a couple sedimentary, mineralogy, and several field courses, which is as much as any geology major -- especially since i specialised in exploration. the only useful geology i found is being done across the street from the geology department, in the physics building, by geophysicists. who actually develop exploration and excavation techniques. geologists are recruited as lackeys who do the manual labour -- no offense. three years was plenty to give a very detailed dose of geology. and there isn't a single group of people anywhere else who refuse to look at the big picture, or the really small one, as much as they do.
there were masters students in geology trying to figure the optical theory of why rose quartz is pink, and they hadn't bothered to ask anyone in the physics department whether that had already been done (this even i can now explain with basic undergrad physics). there were profs whose life's work had been determining whether lake superior is a crater or not, and then charting the bedrock underneath it.
i compare that to walking around with measuring tape and notepad and measuring everything you come into contact with because some of it might be useful some day. no underlying purpose.
geochemists? yes, a better bunch. geophysicists, even better. but geologists? glorified polsters.
Yes! If /. is going to dominate the universe, we need Editors! Preferably ones that will reject crap articles that have no actual information, and the only link is a google search. Then again, at least this story hasn't appeared four times in the past week.
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
The Isua Complex in Greenland which appears to be older than these new samples has undergone several metamorphic episodes during which igneous and sedimentary rocks have been converted into new rocks like gneiss.
Sadly that process tends to destroy all of the potential fossil evidence. There are blobs of carbonaceous material in the Isua rocks which some people have ascribed to early life.
If these new rocks really do contain sediments it could be a fascinating chance to see if life had been kick-started by this time.
Thanks for posting!
Best wishes,
Mike.
Like, how old do you tell a rock is?
It's not like rocks have little labels on them or anything.
I mean, the whole world is like five billion years old or something, right? So technically all the rocks in the world are that old.
Am I missing something?